Superintendent Carstarphen

Meria Joel Carstarphen,
Ed.D, is superintendent of Atlanta Public Schools. She brings to Atlanta an
impressive record in transformative educational leadership that has led to
significant student performance gains. Dr. Carstarphen has nearly 20 years of education
and experience in diverse, major metropolitan public school districts,
including Austin, Texas; Saint Paul, Minn.; and the District of Columbia. She
leads and provides oversight to the district’s 50,000 students; 6,300
employees; and 106 learning sites with a nearly $1 billion annual budget.

Before coming to
Atlanta, Dr. Carstarphen was superintendent of the Austin Independent School
District from 2009 to 2014. With a great team, she made extraordinary
achievements in academic excellence that included improved graduation rates
that reached an all-time high of 84 percent and reduced dropout rates by 25
percent. She credits the Austin success story to a deliberate move away from
over-reliance on high-stakes testing to an educational culture with great
principals and teachers who emphasize the whole child, every child; social and
emotional learning; arts-rich environments; alternative pathways to graduation;
and alternative education disciplinary program reform.

Prior to Austin, Dr. Carstarphen was superintendent of the Saint Paul Public
Schools in Minnesota and held senior leadership and accountability positions
with other public schools systems.

Dr. Carstarphen began her education career as a middle school teacher in her
hometown of Selma, Ala. She also has worked with elementary-level children in
Seville, Spain, and Caracas, Venezuela.

As part of her community involvement, she has consistently served on arts and
non-profit boards including, but not limited to, the Woodruff Arts Center Board
of Trustees, the ETS Board of Trustees, and on the advisory committee for the
Urban Superintendents Program at Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Dr. Carstarphen earned a doctorate in administration, planning and social
policy, with a concentration in urban superintendency from the Harvard Graduate
School of Education. She earned a bachelor of arts in political science and
Spanish from Tulane University and master of education degrees from Auburn
University and Harvard University. She has also studied at the University of
Seville, Spain, and University of Innsbruck, Austria.

The Atlanta Board of Education voted unanimously to hire Dr. Carstarphen in
April 2014. She became superintendent July 2014. Dr. Carstarphen is passionate
about leading Atlanta Public Schools and living its mission every day: With a
caring culture of trust and collaboration, every student will be ready for
college and career.